When Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein met and decided they liked each other
When two unique firebrands meet, the coming together of genius minds create sparks that light up the surroundings. Here's what happened when Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein met.
Charlie Chaplin was one of the most well-known actors of the early 20th century. 'The tramp' who became the face of slapstick comedy grew into the star of the silent era.
Born on April 16 in the year 1889, Chaplin was an actor, filmmaker and composer and there is something so appealing about him that he is still considered to be the greatest comedian the world has ever seen.
Be it his brand of comedy which incorporated everything from pathos to slapstick or the subtle politics of his humour or simply his toothbrush moustache, bowler hat, bedraggled suit and flat-footed walk -- anything and everything about that man made people laugh.
Every cinema-goer across the world probably has watched a Chaplin film, or least heard of the man. Even those in today's generation, for whom silent, black-and-white comedy is anachronistic, if not alien, are aware of Chaplin and his remarkable legacy. The 'cinematic clown genius' is a symbol of comedic history worldwide.
Few people however know of Chaplin's friendship with perhaps the greatest mind of his time -- Albert Einstein.
How the two stalwarts met
It was on Albert Einstein's second trip to America where he was called to deliver a lecture at the California Institute of Technology that he met the comic genius, Charlie Chaplin. Einstein was quite famous at the time and news hummed around his actions and work.
After reaching America with his wife, Elsa, he stayed for a couple of days in New York and was shown around. When he travelled to California, the head of Universal Studios Carl Laemmle called up the genius and movie lover, inviting him for a show of All Quiet on the Western Front in Hollywood.
Einstein watched the movie, noted in his diary that it was "a nice piece, which the Nazis have banned successfully in Germany" and expressed his desire to meet Charlie Chaplin. Laemmle called up Chaplin.
The two stalwarts met at Universal Studios and their quick witted minds hit it off as they took a tour of the studios and had lunch.
Charlie Chaplin later wrote about Albert Einstein in his autobiography:
He looked the typical Alpine German in the nicest sense, jovial and friendly. And although his manner was calm and gentle, I felt it concealed a highly emotional temperament, and that from this source came his extraordinary intellectual energy.
Invitation to Chaplin's house
While on their tour at the studios, Einstein's wife took Chaplin aside and got herself and her husband invited to Chaplin's house, says Chaplin's My Autobiography.
They had a lovely dinner after which Elsa proceeded to describe to Chaplin how her husband had attained his genius status.
She explained how sometime around 1915, Einstein told her one morning about his "wonderful idea" after which he sat playing on his piano and occasionally taking notes. For the next two weeks, he confined himself to his room and later came out spent and tired with two sheets of paper -- his theory of general relativity. He handed these to Elsa saying: "That's it."
The legendary movie premiere with Einstein as special guest
Chaplin invited Einstein to come for the premiere of his movie City Lights as his special guest after enjoying each other's company in the first meeting. January 20, 1931, saw two men who were genius in their own field, share the limelight as the media went crazy capturing photos of the two biggies in black tie.
Einstein's biographer called this instance "One of the most memorable scenes in the era of celebrity."
"They're cheering us both. You because nobody understands you, and me because everybody understands me," Chaplin reportedly said about the crowds, wrote Albert Einstein's physician and friend János Plesch, in his memoir.
But Chaplin's travel memoir A Comedian Sees the World (1931-32) says that this comment actually came from one of Einstein's sons, and that too, about a month after the movie premiere, when Chaplin visited the scientist in Germany.
The awkward dinner party at Chaplin's home
In 1932-33, when Einstein visited California again, Chaplin threw a grand dinner party in the honour of the scientist which he had hoped would become a hub of intelligent conversation. However, media baron William Randolph Hearst was not an academician and Einstein found himself unwilling to share and explain his intricate ideas to someone who wouldn't be able to understand it.
This reportedly created an awkward moment at the table which was only broken by Hearst's girlfriend, the comic actress Marion Davies, who entwined her fingers in Einstein's disorderly hair and wondered aloud why he didn't cut it.
Soon after, Einstein moved to Princeton in New Jersey, after renouncing his German citizenship in 1933.
Though it is not known if they kept in touch personally after this dinner party, Chaplin's words in his autobiography showed that even if for a brief moment, the two men did connect and share some good moments with each other.
Charlie Chaplin not only proved that camera is the language of silent cinema but also gave cinema the beautiful art of mime, just a few hours before Christmas celebrations were set to at his family home.
He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey.
Read: Remembering Rosalind Franklin, the unsung hero whose research helped discover the structure of DNA
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